“That might be surprising to people more familiar with the statue’s French roots than its Arab ones. After all, the statue’s structure was designed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel (yes, that Eiffel), and Lady Liberty was given to the United States by France for its centennial to celebrate the alliance of the two countries formed during the French Revolution. The statue’s designer, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, was also French, but he found inspiration in a very different place: Egypt. In 1855, he visited Nubian monuments at Abu Simbel, which feature tombs guarded by gigantic colossus figures.”

“Bartholdi envisioned a colossal monument featuring a robe-clad woman representing Egypt to stand at Port Said, the city at the northern terminus of the canal in Egypt. To prep for this undertaking, Barry Moreno, author of multiple books about the statue, writes that Bartholdi studied art like the Colossus, honing the concept for a figure called Libertas who would stand at the canal. “Taking the form of a veiled peasant woman,” writes Moreno, “the statue was to stand 86 feet high, and its pedestal was to rise to a height of 48 feet.” Early models of the statue were called “Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia. Edward Berenson, author of Statue of Liberty: A Translatlantic Story, writes that Bartholdi’s concept morphed from “a gigantic female fellah, or Arab peasant” into “a colossal goddess.“

“And that monument was going to be a woman in the southern opening of the canal holding up a torch over her head and that woman was dressed in Arab peasant garb,” Berenson says. But when the ruler of Egypt, Khedewi Ismail Pasha, went bankrupt, the colossal Suez sculpture project was jettisoned. But the artist soon found a way to recycle his design. “A couple of years earlier, Bartholdi and his friends decided they were going to give a gift to the United States that was going to celebrate the centennial of the American Revolution,” Berenson explains. “And then, Bartholdi thought, ‘Ah! I’ve got a great idea! I can reuse this image but change it to fit the American Revolution.’” “Bartholdi changed the woman that was originally dressed in Arab garb into a Greco-Roman goddess of liberty. And the Statue of Liberty, as we know her today, was born.”

This early rendering of “Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia” features a peasant woman and has a strong resemblance to the Statue of Liberty.

“French designer Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s inspiration for the Statue of Liberty has been fairly well documented throughout history. Bartholdi’s first inspiration was a 110-foot statue of the Greek sun god Helios, commonly known as the “Colossus of Rhodes.” Author Barry Moreno writes in his book, “The Statue of Liberty,” that, “The Colossus of Rhodes influenced Bartholdi’s bold plans for the statue of Libertas. Like Helios, Libertas would stand at the entrance to a harbour, would hold aloft a lamp, and would have upon her head a nimbus (in the form of a spiked halo). But Helios stood only 110 feet high, while Libertas was to rise to a height of 151 feet 1 inch.”

But the Colossus of Rhodes was also the inspiration for a previous statue that Bartholdi designed for a lighthouse at the approach of the Suez Canal: the Arab peasant woman. Moreno writes: “Auguste Bartholdi’s first important venture into modeling a great monument in the tradition of the Colossus of Rhodes was called Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia. In 1867, the sculptor proposed building this colossus for the reigning Egyptian khedive, Isma’il Pasha. Taking the form a veiled Egyptian peasant woman, the statue was to stand 86 feet high, and its pedestal was to rise to a height of 48 feet. Fearing it would incur too great an expense, Isma’il Pasha rejected the offer in 1869. “

Gustave Eiffel (the famous builder of the Eiffel tower, right) constructed the monument in New York harbor as a gift from the French people to the United States on the nation’s centennial

“According to the book The Statue of Liberty: A Transatlantic Story (Yale University Press, 2012), by New York University history professor Edward Berenson, the Egyptians rejected Bartholdi’s design, opting for a more cost-effective proposal.”

Ishtar: “Goddess of Liberty and Personal Freedom. Ishtar was introduced to the Greeks as Astarte through the Phoenicians. We can see that the lineage of the Greek and Roman goddess of the planet Venus goes all the way back to ancient Babylon of around 3,000 BC.” “We know of Libertas being referred to as the Mother of Harlots by the famous Roman historian (and senator) Cicero’s writings. Cicero indicates that she was also a very early goddess of the Greeks even before early Roman civilization developed. Upon further investigation, we find that the Greeks had acquired knowledge of this being from previous empires in the Middle East and Egypt. This goddess was called Ashtoreth in Hebrew and in the Old Testament’s Greek version (the Septuagint). Ashtoreth becomes transliterated into the Greek as Astarte, which became the early Greek name for the goddess until it was later changed to Aphrodite. The Hebrew term Ashtoreth was itself a transliteration from the Babylonian dialect (Akkadian) term of Ishtar. Ishtar in the most ancient times was also referred to by the Sumerian dialect as Inanna or Ninanna meaning the Queen of Heaven or Lady of Heaven. In Canaan, this deity was called Ashtaroth. The Hittites called her Shaushka. The Phoenicians on Cypress initially referred to her as Astarte.”

“Isis was the name the Egyptians gave to her. This is how the goddess became introduced to the earliest Greeks. We know this transformation in part due to the written texts found by archaeologists plus from studying the character traits and descriptions. For instance, all these deities were actually just one goddess and she was associated with the planet Venus. Most had phonetic language roots in the transliterating aspects of the name Ishtar and this remained so until the Greeks changed the name to Aphrodite. Later the Romans referred to her in the Latin, initially as Libertas and later as Venus when they accepted more than just the Liberty doctrines.”

The Crown of 7 Spikes:“This symbol was to represent the enlightenment of the Babylonian sun god Shamesh/Utu. The idea was that this sun god’s occultic illumination could be focused by each of the 7 spikes of the crown. Each spike would flash this occultic enlightenment to each of the 7 “horas” or large landmasses of the world. In other words, the each spike would flash occultic enlightenment to a continent on planet earth. Each of the 7 spikes would then be representative of one of the 7 large landmasses or continents of the world.”

The Tablets:“A common misconception is that the tablets represent the 10 Commandments that God gave to Moses. This is not true. The tablets are engraved only with the Roman numerals standing for July 4th, 1776. According to the preeminent Statue Historian, Marvin Trachtenberg in his book “The Statue of Liberty” the tablets represented a generic notion of the concept of law. This should not be confused with the Laws of Moses.”

“Less well-known, however, is the direct ancient Egyptian connection between the colossus and the New York statue. The independence that Rhodes celebrated with the erection of the colossus had been gained only by the critical intervention in 304 bc of ships belonging to Ptolemy I, a former general of Alexander the Great and founder of the Egyptian dynasty that would last until the death of Cleopatra (VII) the Great. Ptolemy’s forces dispersed the siege of Rhodes begun in 305 bc by armies loyal to Antigonus I, a rival, former general of Alexander. Following the withdrawal of the enemy troops, Rhodes seized and sold their abandoned weapons and thus financed the harbor monument. Although it is the torch of liberty that is highlighted in both Greek and English dedication texts, the numerous green foam crowns sold to New York tourists indicate clearly that the most iconic aspect of the Statue of Liberty is her crown of solar rays, a feature typically restored in images of the lost colossus as well. Here again, there is a direct Egyptian connection, as Ptolemaic kings represented themselves as Helios on earth. In antiquity, the crown given to Liberty in New York was worn more prominently by Ptolemy III on his official coinage. Bartholdi’s statue has been intended originally for Port Said beside the Suez Canal (see over). The placement in Egypt would have been quite logical.”

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American born Moor, Author, History Researcher, Modernist, 720 Entrepreneur/ Corporate Mogul in the making; who observes & analyzes human nature for data mining purposes. Knowing is Half the Battle, Wisdom is needed for appropriate application of knowledge and right reasoning.

ABOUT US

Murakush Society Inc. is a historical society dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of the Moorish heritage, history, legacy, and culture, We are the guardians of Moorish knowledge and wisdom. Our goal is to establish a Moorish Museum of History and Culture.

MURAKUSH RESEARCH

This section of our website is dedicated informing interested parties of the findings concluded by Murakush derived from research and analysis of several topics and points of interest as it relates to the heritage, history and culture of the Moors.

About us

Murakush Society Inc. is a historical society dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of the Moorish heritage, history, legacy, and culture, We are the guardians of Moorish knowledge and wisdom. Our goal is to establish a Moorish Museum of History and Culture.